Mers outbreak dents Korea retail sales

South Korea retail sales slipped in June – a predictable result of the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers).

As South Korea’s shunned larger retail outlets to reduce the risk of potential exposure to the illness, discretionary spending fell. Some spending on essential goods moved online.

South Korea’s government agency Statistics Korea says retail sales in June were worth 29.34 trillion won, about US$25.15 billion, which was 0.6 per cent lower than in the same month last year. It was more than 2 trillion won less than May’s spending.

“The Mers outbreak caused shoppers to shy away from large markets where people converge, which effectively hurt overall sales,” a Statistics Korea spokesman said.

However, last week the government officially declared May’s outbreak to be over, after 186 infections and 36 fatalities.

A breakdown of the figures shows the fall in sales affected mostly categories where shopping could be postponed – appliances and computers were down 5.7 per cent year on year and clothing down nearly 10 per cent.

Department store sales fell 12.4 per cent and discount department store sales down 9.5 per cent.

Online spending rose 26.6 per cent in May, while convenience store sales soared 34.6 per cent and supermarket sales rose 4.4 per cent.